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Voices

by Vic Jameson

Comfort Food

Has it occurred to you that the word comfort appears something like forty-seven times in the Bible?

Are you aware that food (the word, not the substance) is to be found approximately two hundred and forty-four times on those pages?

Did you know that those very same words -- comfort food -- are to make up something of a theme for this issue of The Voice?

So with a couple of Alka Seltzers at the ready and a pinch of salt mixed in, here we go on a search for comfort foods of some different kinds. Let the Learned Ones supply the entrees and count the calories. You and I can analyze the appetizers and dabble in the desserts. After all, somebody said to somebody else in no less than the Song of Solomon, "Sustain me with raisins, refresh me with apples; for I am faint with love." (NRSV)(1) And that advice has lasted, right there in the middle of the Good Book, for longer than even Methuselah (2) could remember.

But why go through all this? Because you just might enjoy thinking about food, and comfort, and love. (3) And as a bonus, the Editor might be pleased -- not to mention the grocers, farmers, bakers, processors, and especially people who plant, cultivate, and harvest such goodies, who will be wonderfully gratified.

This report began with some Important Statistics, and it is only fair to tell you that they are not precise. They are approximations. They are something like a dash of pepper in a recipe book. If you feel an urge (4) to be precise, please feel free to take your faithful Complete Concordance down from the shelf (be careful of the dust) and check the facts for yourself.

Meantime, while some among us search for steak and potatoes, you and I can look briefly at what assorted other folk had to say about the side dishes. Just keep in mind that we are looking for comfort and food, and comfort food in whatever places or conditions it may be found. For example:

Isaac, especially when he was old, had a liking for food of the savory variety. "Take our weapons, your quiver and your bow," he told his son Esau, "and go out to the field, and hunt game for me. Then prepare for me savory food, such as I like, and bring it to me to eat . . ."

Rebekah, having heard this conversation, acted accordingly -- in her own fashion. "Go to the flock, and bring me two choice kids, so that I may prepare from them savory food for your father, such as he likes," she said. And you probably know the rest of the story, about using comfort food for not-all-together-comforting causes.

The Book is full of stories about food, of course, with some instances of comfort added. The prodigal son and the father's feast, for one. Joseph and the provisions he provided for his brothers for all those years, for another. And Noah: Noah who remembered the Lord's instructions to "Also take with you every kind of food that is eaten (it is some kind of tribute to Noah that he took along turnips and raisins and liver when he could have deliberately forgotten them in the rush), and store it and it shall serve as food for you and them." It must have been a comfort to have that well-filled pantry so that neither Noah nor Mrs. Noah nor any of the boys or beasties had to go out in the rain to fetch something for supper.

Even so, the finding and the maintaining of anything that ate or was edible was obviously a challenge. Especially on a vessel of that size and with that cargo.

(1) An earlier (KJV) version has it, "Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples; for I am sick of love." Take your choice.

(2) Who made it to 969 years, according to Reliable Sources.

(3) But if you feel such urges often, you really might be wise to make a date to see your friendly neighborhood urge doctor.

(4) The theme involves comfort and food, but surely you see the connection between things comfortable and love; and certainly love and food are first cousins. Besides, it's past time to be saying a good word about love anyway.

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